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Ship Formations
The Hegemony Armed Forces (HAF) use a number of Formations for the Navy, Army, and CAAN (Cavalry, Armor, Aerospace, and Naval) units. Much of what is used is based on formations that date back to innovations by Gustavus Adolfus who created formations that were a mix of different units. Infantry were supported by Cavalry units and they were all supported by Artillery elements. The modern HAF structure is a mix of different formations with some of them remaining in place to the current day. HAF Navy Formations The HAF Navy has a proud tradition that goes back to the first ships that defended Terra from the Vorlon incursions and later combat operations against both the Koulani and Ch'lonas. The war with the Centauri showed that the HAF Navy needed to modify their formations and the disliked Treaty of Vega gave them that opportunity to do so. Much like the Washington Naval Treaty of the OTL (original timeline), the Treaty of Vega limited the size of the Terran fleet. With no dreadnoughts allowed, but oddly enough no provisions for Carriers, the Treaty of Vega limited the HAF Navy to having cruisers and smaller ships. With the introduction of the Avenger Carrier and the Hyperion Cruiser, the HAF Navy was reformed around a smaller ship, the excellent Star Fury line of fighters. Squadron Built around the fighter formation of a Squadron, which is sixteen fighters, the "typical" HAF Navy Squadron is a force that is equipped with eight Fighter Squadrons or known as a Fighter Wing (128 fighters). With the Avenger Carrier capable of carrying 64 fighters (four squadrons) ane the Hyperion Cruiser capable of carrying 32 fighters (two squadrons), most Squadrons carry a mix of these ships. HAF Naval doctrine has a principle where each cruiser-size ships must be escorted by at least two smaller ships (usually the Olympus Destroyer) and that tends to pad out each Squadron. A "typical" Squadron is usually built in two sizes: *Around a single Avenger, with two Hyperions, and the escorting formation of six Olympuses. *Or around a quartet of Hyperions and the escorting formation of eight Olympuses. The Avenger led Squadron has fewer ships and was the basis for many HAF Navy Squadrons and the Cruiser-heavy Hyperion-led Squadron was common in many defensive formations as it has a great deal of flexibility. The Babylon Defense Squadrons were typically cruiser heavy, but were integrated at the Fleet level just prior to the Dilgar War. Fleet Much as with fighter formations, the HAF Navy's Fleet is built around a larger formation of four fighter Wings (thirty two Wings) carried by each Squadron. This means that the typical Fleet is usually built out of a quartet of Squadrons. Given the two formations common at the Squadron level, each Fleet can be composed of a mix of Squadrons with no apparent rhyme or reason. The "typical" Fleet is usually built depending on the formations intended role: *Defensive: Four Cruiser Squadrons *Support: Two Carrier and two Cruiser Squadrons *Offensive: One Carrier and three Cruiser Squadrons Since each Squadron has different job functions, each Fleet can also have different jobs within the main fleets of many HAF Navy formations. For most combat operations the Fleet is the largest formation that routinely sees combat together. Each Fleet has 512 fighters, though some of the Home Defense Fleets were made up on only three Squadrons and as a result had only 384 fighters. The Babylon Defense Fleets were built along the same lines as the Home Defense Fleets, but these formations were discontinued when the larger Task Forces were built for the Dilgar War. Task Force The Task Force formation is a left-over formation from the first War with the Centauri. Usually used more for organizational purposes, Task Forces came into their own when the Hegemony went to war against the Dilgar. Multiple fleet actions were carried out against multiple targets and featured a number of Fleets adhoc'd into Task Forces. Each Task Force is numbered by putting the Fleet designation together, i.e. Task Force 12 consists of Fleet 1 and Fleet 2. Each Task Force can have a large number of fighters and typically have between two or more Fleets and that results in a fighter force of 8 Wings (1,024 fighters) or more than 16 Wings (2,048 fighters). Sector Commands The final HAF Navy formation is that of a particular Sector. The Terran Hegemony is made up of multiple Sectors each under the control of a military Governor and each Sector has a number of Fleets assigned to them for defensive purposes. These Sector Commands were used heavily when the Drakh and Brakiri struck at the Babylon Stations within the Hegemony's borders, but were discontinued as the HAF Navy changed in little of the development of Provders and formations within the HAF Navy changed drastically as new technologies took hold. HAF Army Formations The HAF Army used a typical structure to a terrestrial army until just before the Dilgar War. Just prior to that war, the usual formations within the HAF Army were converted over to the Regimental Combat Team setup. Regimental Combat Team (RCT) Each Regimental Combatl Team is made up of four separate combat commands and supplemented by a fifth logistical command. Trained to work together, each RCT was to be the sum of their parts. Combining a number of formations, the most common component was the Battalion Combat Team. Battalion Combat Team (BCT) Each BCT was built for a specific function be it: infantry, mechanized, or artillery. Made up for multiple types of vehicles and aerospace craft, each the BCT was the culmination of combined-arms practices refined from the war against the Centauri and proven during the Dilgar War. Each BCT is built around a specific purpose and each BCT usually was made up of four companies with these duties: *Armor; making use of anti-gravity tanks and "conventional" tracked units *Infantry; battle armored infantrymen transported by gunships *Artillery *Scout/Recon The vast majority of the BCTs used by the HAF Army were infantry heavy with the "typical" BCT having two Infantry companies and supplemented with a single Armor and Artillery company to form Mechanized BCTs. The Scout/Recon companies were usually included in a single BCT along with Armor and Infantry to form Cavalry BCTs. It was rare, but the 4th RCT made use of a number of Armor and Infantry only BCTs. Transportation The RCT needed to have their own dedicated transports as the HAF Navy's ships were built more to support fighters than ground forces. The older Tyche Cruiser was modified to carry ground troops (and many remained the primary transport of the CAAN formations), but a dedicated ship was needed. The Nova Troop Transport was developed and the large ship was capable of carrying all of the component BCTs of a RCT into combat. They were usually escorted by a pair of Olympus Destroyers to keep to the HAF Navy's escort doctrine. CAAN Formations While CAAN Formations could be part of a RCT, indeed several CAAN units did make up a majority of several RCTs, they usually were deployed by themselves as they were intended to be a rapid deployment force. Made up of the fastest tanks and anti-gravity craft, the CAAN formations were the basis for the HAF Army's BCT. Using combined-arms, each CAAN combat team could function on their own or could be combined to form their own RCT (or even mixed with other HAF Army units). Each CAAN Combat Team followed this formation: *Cavalry; fast hovertanks and gunships *Armor; anti-gravity tanks *Aerospace; dedicated fighters that fulfilled an air/space role, later replaced with the Thunderbolt Star Fury *Naval; actual blue water ships, but also Tyche warships repurposed to carry each Combat Team Bureau 13 Formations Bureau 13's Fleet was shrouded in secrecy for many years and was only unveiled when the Centauri chose not to support the HAF's combat operations against the Dilgar. Using highly advanced ships, the Bureau's premiere ship was the massive Warlock Carrier (while primarily a carrier, each Warlock could carry a large number of fighters, it was actually considered to be a dreadnought). They were supplemented by the Marathon Battle Cruiser and the Artemis Frigate. The Marathon replaced the Babylon Defense Squadrons with at first a pair of ships and later multiple squadrons consisting of th''e Marathon'' with the Artemis in wolf pack formations. The first ship of the Bureau's Fleet was the quartet of Constitution Frigates. Rather than the small warship common in the OTL, the Constitution is reminiscent of the Frigates from the Age of Sail on Terra. Each ship featured a small armament, but were fast and well suited for combat against space-based threats. During the war with the Centauri, the four Frigates were instrumental in mapping Centauri space and retrieving advanced technology from the Centauri. One ship also fought against a Vorlon attack. The Bureau's Fleet was later used against the Shadows and featured the massive Warlord that was built in the image of a First One craft from beyond the galaxy. It would be the Bureau's Fleet that would end the Circle of the Vorlons and Shadows.